The Poison Fruit: Has Apple Finally Sown the Seed of Its Own Destruction?

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 370 I. COPYRIGHT LAW ..................................................................... 371 II. THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT ..................... 373 III. FAIRPLAY .................................................................................. 374 A. How does FairPlay work? ..................................................... 375 B. Why iTunes music files are inoperable with non-iPod digital music players ......................................................................... 376 IV. INOPERABILITY ......................................................................... 377 A. Inoperability Alternative Number 1: Apple could have licensed WMA from Microsoft ............................................... 377 B. Inoperability Alternative Number Two: Apple could license FairPlay to other online music stores ...................................... 379 C. Inoperability Alternative Number Three: Apple could allow other companies to develop DRM encryption that would be playable on an iPod ............................................................... 381 V. INOPERABILITY AND TYING .................................................... 381 A. Tucker and Somers Background ............................................. 381 B. Unlawful Tying or Bundling of Online Video and FairPlay Music Files to the iPod .......................................................... 383 1. Individual Coercion ...................................................... 384 2. Per Se Tying ................................................................. 385 3. Rule of Reason .............................................................. 386 C. Court’s Holding .................................................................... 386 VI. DRM-FREE ITUNES AND ITS EFFECT ON TUCKER AND SOMERS ...................................................................................... 387 A. Apple’s Potential Argument: Apple’s actions are justified by the “business justification” defense, a defense that was only